Stories

Maria Bradshaw drove up her driveway after work. As the garage door lifted, she saw her son, 17-year-old Toran Henry, hanging lifeless inside. The pharmaceutical company Mylan acknowledged in writing that their drug Prozac was the probable cause of the death of Ms. Bradshaw’s son and only child. After his death, genetic testing showed he was an intermediate metabolizer of the drug and therefor unable to metabolize the medication safely. Ms. Bradshaw believes that, had her son been genetically tested before his death, he would be alive today. Ms. Bradshaw is the Executive Director of CASPER, a highly effective and recognized New Zealand charity working to prevent medicalization of depression and ending suicide.

David Carmichael’s genetic metabolism genes showed a forensic psychiatrist that his antidepressant-induced delirium psychosis was caused by his genetic inability to metabolize the antidepressant Paxil, which had been prescribed for him. In the delirium psychosis Mr. Carmichael, a loving and protective father and professional in the fitness industry, had taken the life of his beloved 11-year-old son, Ian. He knows that, had prescription metabolism testing been available to him, his son would be alive today. Since then his focus has been on public education, which includes educating people about the need for Health Canada to enforce the “Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa’s Law).” Mr. Carmichael is involved in the SAD campaign – Stop Antidepressant Deaths. Mr. Carmichael provides media relations services to RxISK.org, the well-known international adverse drug reporting website.

Brennan McCartney, a beloved son and brother. The young teen, recently graduated from high school, went to the doctor for a chest cold. He was given a sample package of the antidepressant Cipralex (Celexa). He had no history of mental health challenges. On the fourth day and after the fourth dose, he was agitated and left his home. He bought a rope and hanged himself in a forest near his home.

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Investigator Tommy Fort, Jr., 42, had been prescribed the antidepressants Zoloft and Wellbutrin. He was a New York state police investigator, a hostage negotiator and a polygraph operator, and had just passed his test for Senior Investigator. Tommy was a loving father and husband, son and brother. He initially went off of both medications. On August 31st he re-started taking Zoloft. On September 8th, eight days later, he drove to a downtown parking lot, took his gun from his locked trunk, stepped back into his squad car and took his own life.

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I’m Kristina from Virginia and this is my daughter, Natalie. Prozac stole Natalie’s spirit at age 10 and Zoloft stole her life at age 19.

She was an intelligent, witty, gentle person who loved animals and cared deeply about the world at large.

When Natalie was nine, the school district recommended Natalie enter a “gifted and talented” program to meet her intellectual needs. She excelled academically, but experienced some anxiety. We made the tragic mistake of taking Natalie to a psychiatrist who quickly prescribed Prozac. The doctor said Natalie was not depressed, and she prescribed Prozac for “OCD-like symptoms.”

This led us down a destructive path in which several doctors prescribed drugs Natalie did not need. They caused Serotonin Toxicity and akathisia, but doctors repeatedly failed to recognize that Natalie’s torturous symptoms were actually signs of adverse drug reactions.

When she was a teenager, another doctor prescribed Zoloft. In 2013 Natalie’s doctor increased the Zoloft dose to 200 mg—over the phone—without ever seeing Natalie. Natalie died two days later from a violent, self-sustained injury. But in reality, she did not die by her own hand; her death was precipitated by medical negligence and ignorant prescribing practices.

Natalie was already suffering from akathisia and Serotonin Toxicity at the time her doctor increased the toxin (Zoloft).